Sometimes
you find good things only after a long
search.
At other times you simply stumble across
them without any effort at all.
The other week, at London's National
Film Theatre, I happened upon a rare
event. I'd been looking for
something to do one evening and decided
to see one of the old classic western
movies that was showing as part of a
current NFT season.
It was only when I came to book my
ticket that I realised that the
screening was to be followed by an
on-stage interview with Elmore Leonard,
the hugely successful crime writer,
best-known for Get Shorty. Years ago, Leonard was writing westerns,
including the short story that became
that night's movie - "3.10 to
Yuma" starring Glenn Ford and Van
Heflin.
That story didn't make Leonard much
money, even though it was made into a
film. Leonard recounted how he
sold it originally to a pulp magazine
called Dime Western, (which,
despite its title, "cost a
quarter"). Dime Western
paid 2 cents per word, so Leonard got
$90 for his 4,500-word short
story. Later, when it was
purchased to be made into a film, the
price paid was only $4,000 - and Leonard
got less than $3,000 of that after the
magazine publishers had taken their
cut. As Leonard said, it was quite
a while before he was making much from
his writing.
Leonard,
now 80, is a dapper, spry old
gentleman. His voice is a little like
James Stewart's and he isn't short of
charm. Here are a few extracts
from the Q-and-A at the NFT:
Q.
Do you plan out your stories in detail
before you start writing them?
A. No! I start with a situation
and introduce characters. That'll
take the first 120 pages. After
that, I'll develop cross-plots.
Then I'll invent the ending - there are
plenty of ways of ending a book.
Q.
How important is dialogue in your
writing?
A. I use dialogue to move my stories
along, much more than narration.
And I use multiple Points-of-View;
I don't want just one person's
Point-of-View.
Q. How do you manage to make the
dialogue in your writing so
convincing? Do you associate with
a lot of low-life characters?
A. I gave up drinking 39 years
ago, so I don't spend much time in bars.
But I think I've got a good
memory. There's nothing magic
about it. I think any writer
should be able to do what I do with
dialogue.
Q. What
is your motivation for continuing to
write at your age?
A. It's the pleasure and
satisfaction that I get from
writing. There is nothing better
than completing a scene that just works,
where you've got everything the way you
want it.
When I'm working I might look at the
clock and see that it's 3 in the
afternoon - and I think "Great!
I've got another three
hours!" If your work makes
you feel that way, that's the kind of
job to have.
That last
answer should be an inspiration to us
all.
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